


Habits

by Lilly_C



Series: Inking It Out [71]
Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: Community: smallfandomflsh, Developing Friendships, Episode Tag, F/M, Loneliness, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 14:33:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12913908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilly_C/pseuds/Lilly_C
Summary: “Right now, temporary solutions are better than the all-consuming loneliness that refuses to go away no matter how much I tell it to.”





	Habits

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler for The Fountain of Youth. A short missing scene written for the clandestine prompt at smallfandomflsh.
> 
> Thanks to Tamara for doing beta for me, any remaining mistakes are my own.

Within the several blurring seconds, it took for Jo to press the doors open button inside the lift, she had decided to seek Henry out over his earlier comments about her seemingly clandestine habits.

Arriving at his office she forced herself to show a calmer demeanour than the anger she wanted to let out of his well-intentioned words. “How do you know when I arrive and leave?” she asked.

Henry looked up from his paperwork, giving himself a little time to formulate a more plausible explanation than also arriving early and leaving late. “One morning,” he started, “I was on my way up when I saw you at your desk absently picking at a bagel, rather than alert you to my presence, I decided to go for a walk and return when your partner and lieutenant arrived.”

Jo knew that his answer was flimsy at best, she pushed him for the truth. “That’s not the real reason that you’ve been watching me is it.”

“No, it isn’t. Someone I cared for very deeply left me and I spent a considerable amount of time looking for them even though I knew that they weren’t coming back to me, to our love.” Henry let out a barely audible sigh. “I’ve been where you are detective, I’ve been at rock bottom and used the same ways of coping that you are using. From my experience, I find that they are temporary options, not permanent solutions. 

“I’m sorry,” Jo whispered, suddenly not knowing what to say next. “Right now, temporary solutions are better than the all-consuming loneliness that refuses to go away no matter how much I tell it to.”

Henry observed Jo for a beat wanting nothing more than to draw her into a hug and never let go, he held back to let her take their easy friendship to whichever direction she chose to.

“I’ll leave you to your paperwork, Henry,” Jo said, not yet wanting to cross their already eroding barriers or to know more about his loss while she was still barely navigating her own.

**Author's Note:**

> Written 28.11.17 and is my first attempt with these two.


End file.
